Austrian Open: David Higgins fired a second successive round in the 60s to lie three shots of the halfway lead, shared by Markus Brier and Simon Dyson, at the Austrian Open.

At seven-under par, following rounds of 67 and 68, the Kerryman leads the Irish challenge. Gary Murphy (four-under) and Stephen Browne (two-under) will both harbour ambitions of featuring over the weekend while Paul McGinley (level par), playing in his second event since recovering from knee surgery, will be pushing hard as he attempts to consolidate his Ryder Cup place.

Austrian Brier, again buoyed by enthusiastic home support, recovered from a double-bogey to lead for a second day. Brier, who comes from Vienna and is attached to the hosting Fontana Club, followed up his adventurous opening day with a less spectacular four-under-par 67 to move to 10-under-par 132.

He shares the two-shot lead with Dyson, one of four players trailing Brier by a stroke overnight, who carded a 66. Dyson's playing partner Gary Emerson carded a 64 to break the Fontana record, set by Brier the previous day, by a shot to hold third place.

Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez was also two off the pace after a 67.

Eight-times European number one Colin Montgomerie produced a blistering finish to threaten alongside Higgins from three shots behind.

Brier, who had once again made light of the pressure of trying to win in front of his home crowd, moved two ahead of the field early on.

However, on his 11th hole, the second of the course, he left a ball in the bunker and ran up the double-bogey before repairing the damage with two birdies.

Brier, who had a hole in one at the 11th the previous day, said: "I had wet hands after going birdie-birdie before the second hole and shouldn't have tried to get over the water from the bunker.

"My ball hit the lip. It was my only hiccough of the day and I was glad I made the birdies after it."

The 37-year-old still has his maiden full tour title in his sights, having won the Austrian Open twice on the Challenge Tour.

Montgomerie, two off the pace overnight, birdied three of the last four holes to vault into contention after an early bogey.    The Scot had predicted the previous day's 12-under would be the winning score.

Brier, who was 23-under for his last Austrian victory, disagreed.

"It will be better than 12-under. I think 23-under will be enough, though," he said.